Charles j



` (No Model.) 2 sheets-sheen `C. J. APPLETON.

CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE.

No. 510,829. Patented Deo. 12, 1893.4

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v IIIII UNITED STATES j PATENT EEICE.

CHARLES J. APPLEToN,`o'E NEW roRK, N. Y., AssIcNoE on Two-THIRDS To HUGOs. MACK AND ELBERT A. WHITTELSEY, oF SAME PLACE.

CIRCULAR-KNITTING MACHINE..

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 510,829, dated December12, 1893. Application filed August 3.1890. ySerial No. 361.425. (Nomodel.)

To a/ZZ whom t may concern:

TON, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of New York,in the county and State of NewYork, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Circular-Knitting Machines, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to knitting machines of the circular type, andhas for its object to produce, in amachine of that class, a turned oroverlapped welt or hem, such as has only been heretofore made on [iat orstraight machines. To this end I employ devices for putting out ofaction the horizontal needles and for holding down the loops on thevertical needles in the proper position, said devices includinghold-downs for holding the loops down and backof the vertical needles soas to allow them to slide through the loops thereon and be ready to takethe yarn for another course.

For full comprehension of my improvements, reference must be had to theaccompanying drawings, and to the following detailed description whereinsimilar letters of reference indicate like parts.

In said drawings, Figure l is a plan of a knitting machine embodying myinvention. Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section. Fig. 3 is ahorizontal section taken ythrough the operating cam on line X, X, Fig.2, only a few of the horizontal needles being shown'. Fig. 1.1. shows adetail of the cam for moving the hold-downs. Fig. 5 shows a detail ofthe sprocket wheel and chain, and Fig. 6 shows a detail of the ratchet,pawl and tripping mechanism.

a, represents the circular plate carrying the horizontal needles'a,which are arranged radially thereupon in the usual manner.

h, is the stationary cylinder upon the outer face of which the verticalneedles b', are situated,-their Shanks or butts projecting into a camgroove d', in the cam cylinder d, which operates said needles.

c, is the cam cap. c is the drawing in cam for operating the horizontalneedles a', the cam cap being fixed upon a central shaft g, so as torevolve therewith.

e, is the annular ring surrounding and fixed tothe needle cylinder b,-aseries of radial manner.

grooves e2, being formed in said ring to receive the lower arms of myhold-downs e the same being pivoted therein in any suitable The upperarms or ends of these ho1d-downs are so configurated as shown, as tohold the stitches or loops down upon the vertical needles b'.

f, is a suitable yarn guide located contiguous to the needle cylinder.g', is a toothed sector mounted loosely'on a collar of the cam cap c,and intel-meshing with a sector h, in the same plane,which latter iscarried upon the upper end of a spindle Jr, journaled in an extensionlL",'of the yoke t',

which is fastened to the cam cyliudercl. The

sector h, is slotted at h to permit the passage of the yoke and saidyoke is also fixed upon the upper portion of the central shaft g. Thisshaft passes centrally through the circular plate c, and has a collar onits lower end, the yoke i, revolving therewith and with the camcylinder,-the plate a being provided with downwardly projecting arms c,o, which abut against lugs o', o', formed on the bed plates z, thusholding the plate and horizontal needles stationary.

Fixed upon the lower end of the spindle k is the disk j which hasatripping device I7 on its under side arranged to move the disk in eitherdirection by the action of the pin lrand pattern chain m having camlinks m2, thereby throwing the horizontal needles in and out of action.

l is the main driving shaft, j ournaled Linderneath the bed plate z, andcarrying a pinion l', which meshes with a gear Z2, formed upon the lowerside of the carn cylinder @L -these gears being preferably set so thatthere will be two revolutions of the pinion to one of the cylinder.Mounted loosely on the shaft l, contiguous to said pinion, is asprocketWheel fm, around which passes a pattern chain m', constructed so as toregulate the number of plain courses in the welt or hem', aud length ofthe fabric to be knit. At the side of -the sprocket Wheel, andpreferably fixed upon the same sleeve, is a ratchet wheel n, with whichengages a pawl fn', carried upon the lower end of a spring actuated pino, projecting through the bed plate z. A disk p, is also fixed upon thedriving shaft Z, and has a projecting piu IOS p', so placed upon itsface that the rotation of the shaft brings said pin over and above thepoint of a tripping plate q,pivoted on the pawl arm, so as to depressthe pawl and move the ratchet wheel one tooth. Vlien the pin p' haspassed the center of the tripping plate q it will then be passing overthelarge end of the plate depressing it, when the spring o will raisethe pawl arm and turn up the point of IQ the tripping plate so as toallow the pin p to pass on the next revolution of plate p underneath thepoint of the plate and return it to its former position by coming incontact with the under side of the large end of the same, i5 thusthrowing down the point of the tripping plate and resetting it in itsnormal position ready to operate the ratchet wheel at the nextrevolution.

o', is a spindle journaled vertically in the 2o bed plate e, having aspring r', and an enlarged butt or end adapted to be impinged upon bycams or enlargements m2, formed upon some of the links of the patternchain fm', their number being proportionate to the number of plaincourses required in the welt or hem. As the driving shaft, sprocketWheel and chain revolve, the spindle r is raised each time its lower endencounters one of the cam links m2 into position for its upper end toen- 3o gage with the tripping device j', and thus, through the spindleor shaft 7c, to operate the sectors 7i and g. A pin g2 passes up fromthe cam piece c, to a curved slot g3, in the sector g', and down toengagement with a swinging cam piece s, pivoted to said cam piece c, on

its under side. This serves to throw the horizontal needles out ofoperation while the vertical needles proceed with plain work.

t, is a roller journaled in the yoke z', in such 4o a position as tobear upon the lower arms of the hold-downs e', as they pass and thusfree their upper ends from the fabric, and at a point within said yokedirectly opposite said roller, I fix a cam plate u, for raising theholddowns into contact with the loops after the vertical needles havedescended and shut ed the old loops and before they rise again. Thehold-downs are so arranged that there are two hold-downs between eachvertical needle and 5o its adjoining vertical needle, so as to allow thehorizontal needles to pass centrally between the vertical needles andhave on each side of each of them a hold down, thus leaving, when thevertical needles are knitting 5 5 plain work and the ribbing needles arethrown out of action, two hold downs between each two vertical needlesas above described.

I may further describe the operation of my machine as follows: Workbeing on the nee- 6o dles, and motion being given to the cam ring (l, bythe pinion Z', on shaft Z,and the other working parts being in positionfor making ordinary rib-work, one of the cams m2, on the chain tm',engages the butt end of the spindie r, and raises it high enough for itsupper end to enga-ge the tripping device j', and thus, (through spindlek) by moving sectors 7i and g, by pin g2, working in groove g3, 1 nsector g', and moving cam s, throws the hori zontal needles e', out ofoperation while still leaving the loops thereon.. The vertical needlesstill continue knitting loops and courses, in the shape of a bag, tuckor pouch continually gaining in length (out of which the overlapped orturned welt is formed) until by the assistance of thehold-downs asufficient length is produced for the purpose required. Then another camon the chain will cause thespin; dle r to engage with the trippingdevice j which is pivoted on the under side of the disk. The movement ofthe trippingdevice 1s limited by the pins i2 on the disk j so that whenthe tripping device j comes in contact with one of the pins it will moveor turn the disk j in that direction returning the sectors to theirformer position and bringingboth sets of needles into operation, againforming ribbed work and completing the turned welt. Motion is given tothe chain and its sprocket by the ratchet n, its pawl and trippingdevice q, and the chain moves only one link during each revolution ofthe machine,-thus saving length of chain.

It will be readily seen from the foregoing, and from the drawings, thatthe essential features of my hold-down devices may be applied tocircular rib knitting machines of any of the well known classes, thehold-downs being between the vertical needles and arranged in a mannerto allow the horizontal needles and the vertical needles to work at thesame time, producing ribbed work, and also to work with t-he verticalneedles when the ribbing needles are thrown out of operation forproducing plain work on the said needles. The hold-downs will then keepcontrol of the loops until enough plain work is knit, the only necessaryaddition being means substantially such as I have shown for successivelythrowing said hold-downs into and out of engagement with the needles andthe loops carried thereby.

Having thus described my invention, I claiml. In a circular rib knittingmachine the combination with the vertical and horizontal needles andmeans for operating them of holddowns e', depressing roller t, liftingcam plate u, and ring e, said devices for holding down the loopsarranged in such manner that two of such hold-down devices will liewithin each pair of vertical needles and one horizontal needle withineach pair of hold down devices, substantially as Vand for the purposesset forth.

2. In a circular rib knitting machine, the combination of vertical andhorizontal needles, means for operating the same, and means for throwingsaid horizontal needles automatically into and out of operation, withholddowns adapted to hold the work down on the vertical needles when thehorizontal needles are out of operation, and means for operating saidhold-downs, substantially as described.

IOO

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o. The combination with the cam-cap a, the n, pawl n', tripping deviceq, and disk p, havdrawing-in cam c', the movable cam s px'o-` ing pinp', all being constructed and arranged vided with the pin g2 foroperating the horisubstantallyas and for the purposes set forth. :o

zontal .needles of the sectors g and h, spindle CHARLES J. APPLETON.

5 7c,px'ovided with trippingdevicej,andspring Witnesses:

actuated spindle fry-of the sprocket wheel m, ROBT. A. KELLOND, and itspattern chaiu,-drivingshaftZ,Iatchet J. A. RENNIE.

